A Day at the Beach, Plus Some Pool Time

With all of us traveling quite a distance to get here, yesterday was somewhat of a recovery day.  Today, though, we all felt a little more refreshed.  In the morning we had breakfast, and started to get ready for the beach.

GG and Clara spent some quality time together, both reading and writing.  I guess maybe they didn't have time for arithmetic.

We then got ready for our first day at the beach.  Last year, the beach did not go well, so we spent the rest of our water time with the kids in the pool.  This year, it went much better.  We brought some sand toys, including a shovel for Joshua, and he could have spent all day, if not the rest of his life, transferring sand from one place to another.  I'm not sure if it was designed this way, but the beach had a little lagoon in it, which was perfect for the kids, as it gave them a nice shallow place where they could play in the sand and water without worrying about waves.  Hannah happily played in the sand as well, but Clara really did not like it.  The texture of it seemed to freak her out a little bit.  But she was happy to be held or to stand and splash through the water.

It wasn't too long before others joined us.  Grandpa enjoyed collecting seashells with Grandma, and Clara got to have some much needed time with Grandpa Ron.  They sat together for awhile, as Clara appeared to continually assess the scene in her little diva swimwear to see if everything met her approval.

We had a lot of fun.  The beach along 30A is really great.  It has perfect white sand and beautiful blue-green water, and it was only maybe a hundred yards from our house, making for quick and easy access.

After a morning at the beach, we headed to Summer Kitchen for lunch.  It's surprisingly affordable, especially for the area, and the food is great.  It's become our go-to place for casual dining when we're at Seacrest or Rosemary Beach.

Meghan and I plan to take the kids for a bike ride on Friday.  Meghan hasn't biked in a couple decades, so today we decided to do a test run around the block.  It went well, so we should be all set for Friday.

Today is Cinco de Mayo, so we had a fajitas for dinner.  Andrew, Julie, and Benjamin joined us, and the two little ones sat next to each other.

After dinner we went out for some time in the pool.  The colorful lights in the pool make it fun.  The top-left picture is with a flash, so it washes out the color.  But in the other ones you can see the color variations and how it makes for a cool, if not almost psychedelic experience, though it's not as noticeable when you're actually in the water.  It was a very busy day, but a very fun one as well.